"The Battalion Search and Rescue always carries the Electronic Frontier Foundation's zine in our desert rig. We're finding new surveillance all the time, and without a resource like that, we wouldn't know what the hell we're looking at."
President Donald Trump, to address what he called a national emergency, ordered a stretch of borderland transferred to the military so that troops could help apprehend unauthorized migrants. Because prosecutors believed Flores-Penaloza had crossed through that zone, now called a national defense area, they charged him with trespassing on military property under statutes including one enacted in 1909 to keep spies away from arsenals.
He was arrested because on February 15, 2025, he was out for a walk in his neighborhood when he got lost and wandered onto a woman's porch, who called the police. He was using a curtain rod as a walking stick, which officers demanded he drop. When he didn't, they tased, beat, and arrested him.
Juan Nicolás has been detained at Dilley since January, where his mother said he's been consistently sick. According to reports compiled by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Univision's Lidia Terrezas, and Juan's mother, at about 3 a.m. on Sunday, Juan suffered a "medical episode" where he was "choking on his own vomit." He was rushed to a hospital on Monday night and diagnosed with bronchitis.
Dulcie and her family, who live in the Twin Cities metro, are afraid every day when they leave for work and school. "All of my friends are staying at home. No one comes out. It gets to me," said Dulcie, who declined to use her last name because she fears retribution from federal agents, who have been detaining citizens and legal immigrants.